The Psychic Thief
by MollyMega
Summary: A sinister plot to steal the Doctor's Tardis is in motion. Will he be able to stop it and save Donna?
1. Chapter 1

The Psychic Thief

By MollyMega

_Author's Note: Well, this is my first Doctor Who fanfic. I'm trying to stay true to the British foundation of the series, so please please please correct any terms I might misuse (or should have used). Also, a bit of disclaimer, I have not seen any of the old series but have done research so that this story can coincide with information that was previously established. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I appreciate any comments you might have. Enjoy!_

Donna Noble hadn't spoken for at least fifteen minutes, a feat the Doctor had not thought possible without creating some sort of paradoxical rift through the middle of the universe. But, as it turned out, it was possible. However, the peaceful silence the Time Lord was experiencing came at the cost of sacrificing his nose.

Poised with her hand sprawled on the edge of the TARDIS console, Donna stuck out her tongue in concentration as she dunked the brush back into the precariously placed bottle of nail polish that had managed to saturate the console room with its stench. "Uh, Donna…" the Doctor began, nervously watching a glob of polish that looked ready to fall onto one of the console's many sensors.

"Shush!" Donna hissed, "Can't fly this thing any better? It's impossible to get on a second coat!"

"Well I could, but you've got your polish right on—" He was cut off as the TARDIS gave a vicious lurch. He clung to the railing, managing to stay on his feet. "Time pothole," he muttered as explanation, but his companion wasn't listening.

"Oh no! No, no, no!"

"What? What? What? Did it spill? Donna, I told you not to put your polish there! That's a bio-scanner you've got it on, do you know how hard those are to clean?"

Donna looked at him aghast. "Its worse than that, Doctor. I think I got a smudge!" She held her hand up, staring intently at the fresh coat of drying red polish. "Oh, I can't see a thing in this lighting. We need to buy a lamp!" As she frantically moved around the room for a better light source, the Doctor snatched up her bottle of polish before a real tragedy could occur.

He looked at his computer screen before grabbing the nearest lever and giving it a quick yank. Shooting the nail polish bottle a glare, he mumbled to himself about needing fresh air while stretching his foot across the console to hit a flashing button. With a few more pushes, pulls, and pumps, he steered the TARDIS to their latest destination.

Donna appeared beside him a moment later. "Oh, landed, have we?"

"Mm. How's the damage?"

"Damage? What damaged? You mean we're here for parts? Where do you go to get parts for a time machine, anyway? It's not like you can just pop over to the BP for an oil change."

"Your nails."

"Oh! Turns out there wasn't a smudge after all! What a relief, eh?"

"Isn't it just."

Donna gave him a rueful look before spinning towards the door. "So when and where are we? What crazy alien race are we going to meet this time?"

The Doctor led the way to the door, grabbing his brown jacket as he walked. He swung the door open and Donna eagerly peeked over his shoulder. Her face fell immediately. "We're back home?"

The Doctor offered her a suspiciously innocent look. "You said you wanted to pick up some snacks."

"S'pose I could pick up some HobNobs."

"There we go!" A look of relief crossed his face and he widely swung his arm out into the London air. "Allons-y!" He paused, balanced on one leg as he held the door open, casting a glance at Donna then back outside. "Allons-y means let's—"

"I know what it means," Donna replied, placing her hands on her hips. A suspicious look narrowed her eyes. "You aren't telling me something. We've got the whole wide universe and all of time to pick snacks from. But you brought me back to London? The London I grew up at and ate all the snacks I ever wanted from?"

The Doctor's eyes continued to flit from his companion to outside, and he looked ready to bolt out of the Tardis. He cleared his throat and lowered his leg, letting the ship's door swing closed. "Well…" He jammed his hands into his pockets and looked guiltily at Donna.

"Well what?"she demanded. A look of horror crossed her face, "You're getting rid of me! Kicking me to the curb! You don't want me anymore, do you—you little space twig!"

The Doctor held up his hands. "No, no! Wait, what? Space twig? What does that—oh never mind. Your mum gave you a ring earlier, when you were sleeping. Said Wilfred had taken a tumble down some steps and was in the hospital."

"Gramps?" All the anger immediately drained from Donna's face to be replaced with a growing horro. The Doctor quickly continued, "He's alright! I talked to him. He said your mum is more upset than anything. Apparently she thinks you're in Egypt. Egypt, ha! You know, though, we should go visit the Pharaohs. See the pyramids being built and we could pick up a real souvenir for your Mum. Something like a canopic jar would be nice. Bet we could even find one with a fresh pair of lungs in it. Hapi was the guardian of the lungs, looked like a baboon if I remember right."

"Doctor!"

"Hm? Oh, yes. Well, Wilfred said it wasn't necessary for us to come, but I figured you would probably want to see him and it would be a load off of your Mum's mind. But I still think that we should go pick up a canopic jar so she thinks you really were in Egypt. The sand, though—"

He was cut off rudely by Donna shoving past him on her way out of the Tardis, rushing towards the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

The Psychic Thief

Chapter 2

On their way to the hospital, the Doctor had convinced Donna that he would just hang around the building and give her time to visit Wilfred without his being in the way. He failed to mention the true reason he didn't want to be around was to avoid running into Sylvia Noble. Having experienced enough adventures with Jackie Tyler, he wasn't eager to start any more with his companions' mothers. Plus, they all seemed to have an automatic aversion towards him.

So, as Donna scrambled off the elevator with a quick "See you later," the Doctor stayed on. The doors closed with a ding, and the machine jerked upwards. The Doctor sighed, leaned against the wall, looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes.

He didn't exactly want to spend the next few hours in a hospital. Maybe he would hunt down the cafeteria, but he wasn't too excited at the thought of eating hospital food. No matter where one was in the galaxy, no matter what time period, hospital food was always notoriously bad.

The elevator doors opened and the Time Lord heard someone else enter the elevator. There was several moments of silence before the newcomer said, "You haven't pushed any buttons."

"Hm?" The Doctor lifted his head to look at the speaker. It was a young girl, not much over the age of 11. She was thin, the Doctor noted, but not in a healthy way. She wore a school uniform that seemed too big on her lanky frame. She didn't meet his eye, instead shyly looking away.

"You didn't pick a floor," she explained, indicating the side of the elevator. She pushed the button for the first floor then glanced expectantly back at him. The Doctor frowned, "Oh. Well, haven't quite picked what floor to go to. First one sounds nice. I bet they even have a little shop there." He seemed quite pleased by the prospect.

The girl nodded. "They do. I can show you where it's at, if you want. I'm headed there myself." This further excited the Doctor, a large grin spreading across his face, "Well, I should introduce myself to my tour guide then. I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor? Don't you have a first or a last name?"

"Yes. The. Doctor."

"_The_ isn't a proper first name. It's an article."

"At least it's a definite article, eh? It would be silly if my name were A Doctor. Then you'd never be sure which doctor you were talking about."

Before the girl could respond, or stop giving him a blank stare, the elevator doors opened. The Doctor stepped off with a flourish. "Off we go,….?" He glanced back at the girl who paused uncertainly, seeming to reconsider her offer to show him the way to the shop. However, with a slight waggle of his eyebrow and best grin, she finally supplied her name. "Ellie."

"Off we go, Ellie! You know, I've always been fond of the letter L myself." As hoped, a timid smile broke across the girl's face as she began to steer them towards the gift shop. As they walked, the Doctor noticed that the eyes of a few nurses followed them, glances of suspicion passing amongst them. He was fairly certain that those looks narrowed into glares towards him.

Ellie led the way into the store. "Ah, lovely shop," the Doctor commented as he sauntered in. The thick smell of flowers hit his senses, and a corner of the shop was overflowing with Get Well Soon balloons and plush animals. Before he could stick his nose in the petals of the nearest daisy, the man behind the counter stood up.

"Hey there, Ellie," he said, glancing between the girl and the Time Lord, "Running late today, huh?"

She nodded, "Yeah, 'cause of school. Have you seen Ethan go by at all? He wasn't with Mum."

The clerk shrugged, "Hasn't gone by, far as I know." A frowned passed over Ellie's face as she selected two drinks and snack bars, bringing them up to the counter. The man continued to sneak glances at the Doctor, who was meandering nearby. "I'll put this stuff on the tab," the clerk said, shoving the items into a plastic bag.

"Thanks."

"But tell me, Ellie, who's the man that came in with you? That isn't your old man, is it?"

Horror flashed on her face as she whipped around to look at the Doctor. Her eyes searched his face for a moment before she cast him a pleading look. "Y-yep. That's my dad." She said as she turned slowly back to face the clerk, a forced smile pulling up the corners of her mouth. A frown tugged down the Doctor's and he stepped over beside the two, but seeing the tenseness in the girl's shoulders, he kept his mouth shut for the moment.

"He is?" The clerk's look became instantly disapproving. "Well, good to see he finally showed up. You have yourself a fine pair of children, Mr. Rowley. Be sure to take good care of them." The Doctor felt the last statement was more of a threat than friendly advice. He managed a weak grin, "Uh, yeah. I'll be sure to do that."

Ellie reached out and gripped his hand tightly, tugging him out of the store. "Okay, well, thanks. See you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder without glancing back. She didn't need to look to know the clerk was still staring after them.

"Care to tell me what that was about?" The Doctor asked once they were out of ear shot of the store. Ellie stopped, dropping his hand and watched the floor guiltily. "Sorry," she muttered. "The staff has really begun to ask about Dad lately, and Ethan is worried that they're going to call Children's Services. I just thought that if they thought you were Dad that they wouldn't raise a fuss and Mum could stay here and…." She trailed off with a frustrated sigh, clenching her hands at her sides in an attempt to calm herself.

A crease furrowed the Doctor's brow as he struggled to piece together what the girl had said. She seemed on the verge of tears and the Doctor didn't want to question her too harshly, but he wasn't keen on the idea of parading around as her father either. "Alright," he said gently, "let's go to where your Mum is. We can talk about this there." He extended his hand back to her and she took it without hesitation, seemingly grateful that he wasn't pushing the issue.

The two walked quietly back to the elevator, hand in hand. When they stepped off the elevator on one of the basement levels, the Doctor was struck with how quiet the floor was. There was an unmanned nurse station that Ellie led them past, making a beeline for one of the many rooms. As he walked into the room, the Doctor was suddenly aware that the situation was more complicated than he had originally assumed.

Lying on the bed was a middle-aged woman, tubes protruding from her arm to IVs and wires leading to machines. She looked asleep, but upon closer inspection, the Doctor knew that not to be true. She was in a coma.

"This is Mum," Ellie said, setting her bag down on the foot of the bed and moving over beside the woman. "Mum," she picked up the woman's hand and cast a warm look on the still face of her mother, "this is my new friend." She looked over her shoulder at him, "You can say hello, if you want. The nurses told me that Mum can hear me so I should talk to her because it'll help when she eventually wakes up."

"Ah, yes, of course. Hullo there, Mrs. Rowley! Pleasure to meet you, I'm the Doctor."

Delight lit up Ellie's face by the Doctor's friendliness but her attention was soon drawn by something outside of the door. "Ethan, come here!" she called, waving at the young man who had paused in the doorframe. The Doctor turned to meet the new comer but was surprised by the intense stare he received. Ellie was equally surprised.

"Y-y-you're real!" The young man stammered, taking a stumbling step backwards. "I can't believe it. You're real!"


End file.
